1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an object determination apparatus, a collision avoidance assistance apparatus and an object determination method.
2. Description of Related Art
As a related art, there is known a collision avoidance assistance apparatus mounted in a host vehicle which detects another vehicle or the like present in the traveling direction of the host vehicle and which assists in avoidance of the collision with the detected vehicle. This collision avoidance assistance apparatus sets a detection region in the traveling direction of the host vehicle. When an object enters the detection region, the collision avoidance assistance apparatus performs a collision avoidance control, for example, warning, braking and/or steering intervention.
In the above-described collision avoidance assistance apparatus, the collision avoidance control is sometimes unnecessarily performed when an on-road structure that usually does not hinder the traveling of vehicles (e.g., a guardrail, a steel plate, etc.) enters the detection region. In order to avoid such unnecessary activation of the collision avoidance control, it is necessary to appropriately determine whether the object detected is a vehicle other than the host vehicle.
On another hand, as an apparatus that determines an object present in the traveling direction of a vehicle, there is known, for example, an object determination apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-244154 (JP 7-244154 A). This object determination apparatus determines whether an object present in the traveling direction of the vehicle is a reflector (reflecting plate) or other objects on the basis of the reflection intensity of detection wave that is sent out from the vehicle and reflected from the object.
However, the above-described object determination apparatus is not capable of determining whether an object detected is a vehicle other than the host vehicle.